The Art of Living

My fear is not in the death of my fragile body

It is in the loss of my mind long before my body dies

As my body gives out-I want to remember!

I want to remember that moment of my birth

When I drew my first breath – feeling that shock of first awareness

My molecules at the most base level screaming  as they are torn apart

My strength growing with my joy of life – may I survive!

I want to age with the fluid grace of wrinkles and sagging skin

To finally die with dignity – without the disturbing prolonging of medical technology

I want my memories to be as varied- crystal clear-as my life was

Filled with the sadness, the happiness, the love and the disturbed

As I die - let me feel the pain of life as it flows out of me

In the end – my life should be a canvas

Where one can go and sit and wonder with awe

At the art of living – through the process of dying

© 2010 16 august/cb